A new book exposing twelve false christs in our world today is now available from Concordia Publishing House.
In Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? 12 False Christs, author Matthew Richard reveals to readers who the real Jesus of the Bible is, but also reveals to us twelve false christs who are embraced, loved, promoted, and revered, even by well-meaning Christians.
“We live in a culture that has an abundance of false christs. People construct in their minds a Jesus to suit their own fancy, a Jesus that will appeal to them,” Richard said. “This is the false Christ that they have created in their mind, which is the essence of idolatry.”
Richard gives insight on how to respond to those false christs in our own lives, and he invites everyone to help him ask that question: will the real Jesus please stand up?
Praise for Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? 12 False Christs
It should be easy to help people understand Jesus—simply read the New Testament! But with so many views of “Jesus” floating around in the media, the news, and classrooms, and so many interpretations of the Bible, it can be a challenge to help people see Jesus, revealed in His Word, and crucified, risen, and ascended for all. Pastor Richard will not only help you talk about Jesus with people you meet every day, but also help steer you through all the noise so that you can listen to—and find hope in—the real Jesus.
—Jeffrey Kloha, STM, PhD, provostprofessor of exegetical theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
This book is a must-have for our conversations with those holding onto their false christs and when we ourselves slip into these same errors. Above all else, this book is all about Jesus—the real One!
—Rev. Dr. James A. Baneckexecutive director of pastoral education, LCMS
This is simply an outstanding book! With so many false christs lurking in the world and in our churches today, Pastor Richard deftly gets to the heart of such idolatry. Written with superb narrative wit and great pastoral care, he provides a brilliant tool for the diagnosis, prescription, and curative treatment of such pervasive idolatries. Capturing the plight of multiple misbeliefs with clear and accessible language, Pastor Richard faithfully presents the real Jesus Christ, bloodied and crucified for you, and regularly given to you through His Word and Sacrament. This is a gem for our time!
—Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodfordsenior pastor, Zion Lutheran Church and School, Mayer, MN
It’s hard to sell people a dead man on a cross. It’s not easy to worship a God you don’t get to choose. But it does little good to find a Jesus who doesn’t really exist. With real-life narratives and passionate focus, Pastor Richard shares how easy it is to craft a “better” Jesus, one made after our own image, an idol to which we plaster the name “Jesus.” More important, he reminds us why it’s better to be a doorkeeper in the house of the true God, than to reign in the halls of gods that can’t help us. The real Jesus has stood up. He is risen, and Pastor Richard will leave you feeling confident that the real Jesus has done this great thing, precisely, for you.
—Pastor Jonathan Fisk, host and producer at KFUO, creative director of Worldview Everlasting, podcaster atRevFisk Raw, and author of Broken: 7 Christian Rules That Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible
False idols and fake christs are everywhere. This book is a bold and engaging critique of the many false christs in the twenty-first century. It depicts twelve false christs and reveals how they are nothing more than shams, counterfeits, and falsifications of Jesus. Pastor Richard has written a winsome book that points out not only the failures of false christs but also the firm truth of the real Christ Jesus.
—Rev. A. Trevor Sutton
associate pastor, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Haslett, MI
author of Being Lutheran
This is a worthwhile read for pastors hoping to better reach their flock. Moreover, it is an extremely helpful book for laypeople who want to better know the true Jesus and recognize the false christs Jesus Himself warned would sprout up and be proclaimed after His ascension.
—Wade Johnston, PhD, assistant professor of theologyWisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, WI
Pastor Richard brilliantly provides his readers with a detailed education in contemporary christology. More important, he presents us with the true Jesus and constant instruction and encouragement to respond with the true Gospel in genuine empathy and love to those caught up by false christs.
—Sandra Ostapowich, Higher Things conferences executive, Plano, TX
Extremely accessible, and yet also full of solid theology, this little book teaches how to evangelically engage the people we meet in our everyday life and recognize when a “false christ” is being proclaimed. It offers Christians a useful guide for engaging our erring neighbor with humility, all the while looking for the opportunity to confess the real Jesus, in whom alone we have real salvation.
—Pastor David WarnerLCMS church planter, Spain
The landscape of life in the twenty-first century is filled with a confusing number of “customized christs.” Matthew Richard handily summarizes how to recognize these manufactured messiahs who might sway some of us, but cannot save any of us, so that we might stand up for the real Jesus.
—Rev. John Arthur Nunes, PhD, presidentConcordia College—New York
In C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, an angel offered to kill the red lizard perched on a man’s shoulder and so set him free from a comfortably cherished substitute savior along with its lies and false comfort. Reluctantly he allowed the angel to kill his whispering lizard and so was delivered from its tyranny and destruction. With the insight of that angel and the skill of a surgeon, Dr. Richard wields the sword of God’s Word to diagnose and remove the red lizards in false christ’s clothing that people have embraced rather than the real Jesus revealed in Holy Scripture. Will the real Jesus stand up? Indeed, not only does the real Jesus stand up throughout the pages of Dr. Richard’s book, but the real Jesus also slays the lizards and dragons who try to take His place and lead His people astray.
—Rev. Joshua D. Reimche, pastorOur Savior Lutheran, Bottineau, NDImmanuel Lutheran, Willow Creek, NDSt. Paul Lutheran, Rugby, ND
For more information on Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? or to order the book, please visitcph.org/realjesus or call 800-325-3040. For more information on the author or to request a review copy, please contact Lindsey Martie, Public Relations, by phone at 314-268-1303 or by email at Lindsey.Martie@cph.org.
